Thought a discussion on the electronics in your Tokai and which pups (pickups) you have tried would be helpful to the group. So lets start with what model Tokai, brand of pups you put in, the sound you were trying for (brown, women, Randy Rhodes, etc) and the sound you got.

Howdy Hi,
2 "1959" model loverocks from Mikes music( both vintage sunburst)Korean Mfg.
Was looking for a sizzling texas type tone ala' ZZTopp, Nitzinger, et al. I put 2 pearly gates duncan pups in the #1. The tone was night and day from the original pups. Strong bass/midrange, and a cutting crystal high end with fat harmonics when pushed. Why buy gibson? achieved the sought tone.
#2 was a little different. Looking for a cross tone that would cover Dickie Betts type sounds, Early Eric Johnson/Santana. New pups were Duncan( again) JB in the bridge- and a gibson 57 classic plus in the neck. I got the full singing tones of DB from the classic plus rolling the tone knob back to about 7 o'clock- volume full out. Didnt quite get the sound I was looking for with EJ/Santana in the JB. Will either try Kinman or possibly dimarzio next. The tokais are extremely resonant guitars- and will sustain easier and longer than their american counterparts IMO.
Amps used: 70's Hiwatt 50 head/ vox super beatle cab with altecs
Fender Super Twin 2x12
Dumble 1x15 60 watt

Hi all! I´ve put original Gibson 490/498 pups on my 1992 Tokai Love Rock.(I just bought it new) The Tokais weren´t bad at all,but the Gibsons had a few advantages IMO:
-less hum and noise
-less string pull(false overtones)
-less "smear": notes within the chord are better distinguishable.
I also had a repair man put on a set of original Grover tuners. Looks COOL and stays in tune way better. Also improves sustain(even more!) and lows.
All in all US$600 for a NEW Les Paul with all these goodies!

I put a Rio Grande BBQ Bucker in one of my Love Rocks in the bridge. Also had a Duncan '59 in the neck spot. Both pickups were double-zebra. The sound was just as advertized: "Texas tone that's bad to the bone". I was not happy with the APPEARENCE of this setup. Red burst with double zebra did not turn out to be as visually appealing as I had anticipated. Today I installed two DOUBLE BLACK Duncans: '59 in the neck with an SH6 distortion in the bridge. This is turning out to be a much better arrangement. Besides, the snarling Randy Rhoads sound is closer to where I am at than Dicky Betts. Now this guitar LOOKS like it will rip your ears off when it's not even plugged in!!!!!

What do you folks do with the chrome covers when you change the pups in your Love Rock's? I like to keep mine on but my Duncan 59 PAF's pole pieces don't line up properly with the holes in Tokai's cover (this is a 1988 gold top). It looks kinda naked without the cover on. I assumed the hole spacing would be standard but obviously not. For now I've put the original pickup back in. Apparently you can get covers from Seymour Duncan but no shop I've called here in the UK has them.

Maybe I was lucky with my 2001 Japanese LS-65. I replaced the Tokais PAFIIs with Seymour Duncan "Pearly Gates" and noticed very little difference "live" (unless you take into account my bank balance - ?80 EACH for the Seymours in the UK!) and no difference in "recorded" sound. The Tokias are slightly microphonic.

On my Goldstar Sound strat I'm using a Seymour Duncan Little ?59 (humbucker) in the bridge position and a Duncan Hot Stack (stacked humbucker) in the middle position. The neck pickup is still the stock Tokai single coil but I'm thinking of replacing it with another Hot Stack. The Duncan pickups are very quiet and they sound great.

I put a set of VanZant classics in my AST 62 and Fender Texas specials in my AST 56 they have a more pronounced idenity. The 62 has a Curtis Mayfield/Hendrix vibe , real warm and full. The 56 sounds is great for the Knopfler to Gilmore tone / capable of tele twang with the comfort of a strat.

I've been getting a lot of questions about from retailers about offering Love Rocks with Rio Grande pickups. My thoughts are these would be great for people looking for the Billy Gibbons tone (ZZ Top).